This AI Subculture’s Motto: Go, Go, Go

On a Monday night last month, a few hours after OpenAI held an event for developers in downtown San Francisco, hundreds of artificial intelligence aficionados packed into a three-story nightclub several blocks away to celebrate a looser, less corporate vision of the AI future.

Under colorful lights and screens showing anime images, the mostly young, mostly male crowd danced to a DJ set by the musician Grimes, who is better known in tech circles as Elon Musk’s ex. A big banner on the wall read “Accelerate or Die.” Another sign showed a diagram of an AI neural network emblazoned with the motto “Come and Take It.” An AI startup handed out promotional flyers that read “THE MESSENGER TO THE GODS IS AVAILABLE TO YOU.”